Card Comparison – Elf Thief (FUS)

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

We’re doing our first Card Comparison today!

I want to start off by saying that not every card is good for competitive play, but at the same time, not all cards are good to use in casual play. I want to do card comparisons every so often in an attempt to showcase how different each version can be and discuss how they could best fit on a team. I also want to discuss how they compare to other cards with similar abilities.

I want to look at the Common, Uncommon, and Rare versions of the Elf Thief from the Faerûn Under Siege set.

Elf Thief, Lesser Harper(Common)

I recently did a Confusing Card of the Week post about this particular version. You can find it here.

I sing the praises of how good this card is on a regular basis. When you look at this card, probably one of the first things you notice is the purchase cost. He cost TWO energy! And he’s a Mask character! That by itself is great, even though we have Morphing Jar, Canopic Jar from the Yu-Gi-Oh! set. But something Morphing Jar doesn’t have, is an ability. Elf Thief’s abilities are both great and that’s probably the second thing you’re going to notice. He has the ability to field for free and he can steal an energy from your opponent.

When you look at his stats, they aren’t ‘amazing’ but they’re okay. Most of the time, you’re going to want to reroll your Elf Thief so you can possibly steal more energy from your opponent on your next turn. A good way to accomplish this is to use your Elf Thief to feed Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Monstrous Dragon. Not every team is going to use both Elf Thief and Blue-Eyes, so you could use him as a blocker.

I’ve seen aggressive teams use this character to great affect as an attacker. He pairs well with Guy Gardner, Blinding Rage as an attacker to increase Guy’s attack value.

The ways to use this character to your advantage are numerous. This character is great for competitive and casual play. He’s among my favorite cards and I’ve replaced Morphing Jar on all my teams with this Elf Thief.

Elf Thief, Greater Emerald Enclave(Uncommon)

This version of the Elf Thief has a very unusual and unique ability on him. Let’s use Mask energy for my example here.

~ I field Elf Thief, Greater Emerald Enclave.
~ I make my opponent move a Mask energy from their Reserve Pool to their Used Pile.
~ Since I did that, I can now move a Mask character from my Used Pile to my Reserve Pool on a Mask side.

This ability could be handy for gaining an energy advantage by removing one of your opponent’s double energy dice to their Used Pile, thus gaining you the double energy. The downsides to this version are that his purchase cost is one more that the common version and he doesn’t have the ability to field for free.

You could find a team build that would utilize this character, but I don’t think this version is good for competitive play. He is better suited for casual play with a more specialized team, but you still run the risk that your opponent won’t have energy in their Reserve Pool to match your fielded characters.

Elf Thief, Paragon Emerald Enclave (Rare)

This particular version of the Elf Thief reminds me of Jinzo, Trap Destroyer in a way. Elf Thief cost one less than Jinzo, but unlike Jinzo, his ability is only good the turn he’s fielded.

Now I can see this card potentially seeing play on some rogue competitive teams that don’t want to or can’t use Jinzo. Another benefit that the Elf Thief has over Jinzo is that he’s a Mask character and not a Shield character like Jinzo. Jinzo does give your opponent something worry about in the Field Zone, but you can also use Elf Thief as food for Blue-Eyes after you’ve fielded him. His effect will still affect your opponent since it is a ‘When Fielded’ ability and not a ‘While Active’ ability.

Should there be a set rotation, I could see this card easily taking Jinzo’s place. I could still see some competitive players swapping to this character for his other advantages like energy type, cost, and different uses. He’s also great for casual teams of all kinds.

Final Thoughts

So, which Elf Thief is better? Hard to say since they all have abilities that are so different.

I definitely have my favorites. Lesser Harper, the common, is absolutely my favorite. Paragon Emerald Enclave, the rare, is my next favorite. Greater Emerald Enclave, the uncommon, is not one I could see myself using at all. I’m sure someone could find a place for Greater Emerald Enclave on a casual team. I can’t say that any one card is better than another version because everyone has their own opinions, but you have to admit, Lesser Harper looks like an awesome card.

I would be very surprised if Elf Thief, Lesser Harper didn’t see some top tier play. But that’s just my opinion! Each Elf Thief has a place and it’s up to the players to find them.

What do you think of the Elf Thief cards?Leave a comment and let us know!